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Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are again involved in a controversy regarding underinflated balls. It involved the balls used for kicking by both teams during their Week 15 game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
MassLive.com's Mark Daniels reported that Patriots special teamers complained about the balls at halftime due to odd occurrences. Meanwhile, Belichick deflected the blame on the game officials in charge of those balls.
Bill Belichick calls for an explanation for the underinflated kicking balls
During a recent press conference, the Patriots head coach addressed the concern, saying they or the Chiefs are not responsible for the balls in question. Bill Belichick said:
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“Well, the officials handle that, and they were underinflated by 2-2.5 pounds. I think you could see that by the kicks. Both kickers missed kicks. (Harrison) Butker hadn’t missed a kick all year. Kickoffs, we had two of them that almost went out of bounds. So, they had six balls. It was both sets of balls. It was all six of them.”
Meanwhile, as tweeted by JPAFootball, the NFL declined to comment on the underinflated footballs during the Patriots-Chiefs game.
It was later revealed that the balls used by placekickers were at 11 pounds per square inch, below the legal range of 12.5-13.5 PSI the NFL mandated.
The underinflated balls might have affected Harrison Butker's failed field goal attempt after converting his first 23 tries this season. New England Patriots placekicker Chad Ryland also missed a 41-yard try in the first quarter.
Butker's opening kickoff landed on New England's three-yard line, prompting Bill Belichick's squad's sideline to suspect something wasn't right. After all, 87 percent of Butker's kickoffs were for touchbacks.
However, the Chiefs still won the game, 27-17, improving their record to 9-5.
As the NFL rulebook states, the Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs had 12 primary and 12 backup footballs each. However, game officials open six new footballs in their locker room two hours and 45 minutes before the game.
These balls are used for anything involving kicking (punts, field goals, and kickoffs), and the officials check if they are correctly inflated.
Bill Belichick revives Deflategate memories with his response
Regarding the underinflated balls in their recent game, Bill Belichick added during the press conference:
“So, I don’t know. You have to talk to the league about what happened on that because we don’t have anything to do with that part of it. They control all that. They fixed them at halftime but didn’t do it before then, which is another question you could ask. But, we don’t have anything to do with it. Were we aware of it? Definitely. But, as I understand it, they were all the same.”
"Didn't do it before then" is a subtle reference to the saga now known as Deflategate. It occurred during the 2014 AFC Championship Game between the Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. While the Patriots won the game, it was later revealed that five of the 11 footballs measured below 11 PSI.
After a subsequent investigation, Bill Belichick and the Patriots received a $1 million fine. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for four games the following season, and the team lost draft picks. The incident also brought rule changes on assessing games that will be used during games.
